Bad, Bad, Gang! Review

Distributor: Impulse Pictures Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Golden Age Classic, Feature Film, Roughie Run Time: 62 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1972 Director: Donn Greer (as Jon Donne) Written by: uncredited Cast: Andy Bellamy, Bert Davis, Nancy Martin, Rene Bond, Ric Lutze, Suzanne Fields, Wayne Chapman Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

Bad, Bad, Gang! is a cheaply made roughie that has some significant issues. Able (Ric Lutze), Jane (Rene Bond), Kane (Wayne Chapman), and Eve (Nancy Martin) are traveling to camp at the Garden of Eden campground. Once there, they are attacked by the vicious Cobra biker gang, who kidnaps Eve and takes her to their hideout in the nearby woods. One by one, the rest of the quartet gets abducted by the bikers who plan on using them as playthings.

John Donne was clearly trying to do something with Bad, Bad, Gang! but whatever he was trying to do somehow got lost in the translation. The campers all bear biblical names and are headed to a campsite with a biblical reference for a name. Even more, a cobra is a serpent and a serpent is what tempted Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge. However, what Donne was trying to do with the campers being biblical got lost somewhere from conception to the finished product.

The biblical aspect isn't all that got lost from conception to the finished product unfortunately. Whatever plot in general Donne was going for seems to have been abandoned once everyone was kidnapped after which nothing much makes sense with the film. As to whether there was a problem with some of the footage causing the film to be edited together without key portions or whether the film went over budget and conceived aspects weren't filmed, I don't know. However, there is clearly something missing from the film.

The film was obviously cheaply shot, something that Donne does work with well. Sex at the Cobra's hideout was on shabby air mattresses and the like. By putting their hideout in the middle of the forest, Donne was able to cut down on the budget by utilizing cheap aspects such as this and make them fit within the film. The sex scenes are rather short and only the ones in the beginning are consensual. Well, some of the ones at the end might be, everything is confusing then.

Bad, Bad, Gang! isn't the greatest adult film ever made nor is it one of the better of the roughies made. However, it isn't so bad as to be unwatchable.

Impulse Pictures has done a decent job with their release of Bad, Bad, Gang! Bad, Bad, Gang! is presented in the academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in 480p. The print that the transfer was made from has seen better days and exhibits print damage, artifacts, and grain. The film jumps in places and the colors are decent but appear to have a blue hue to them (greens often look more blue than green). Despite the print for Bad, Bad, Gang! being beat up, the film is watchable throughout.

Bad, Bad, Gang! is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural audio track. The audio track isn't bad and dialog is clear and can be heard throughout the film. The track does contain hiss throughout the presentations and a few jumps. Overall, it isn't horrible.

Impulse Pictures has only included one extra for this release. There is a postcard with linear notes by Dimitrios Otis on Bad, Bad, Gang!

Bad, Bad, Gang! at some point in conception seemed to have had something going for it. However, somewhere between conception and completion, whatever was going on became a muddled mess. The female cast looks good but the sex scenes are short and many are non-consensual. Impulse Pictures has done a decent job with their release.

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